TAT ASMI PRABHU – FIFTH MAHAVAKYA – GOD IS PERSONAL GOD

The statement ‘Tat Asmi Prabhu'( That Who is Yoked with God) may view God as Unmanifest, Absolute Reality or Brahman. In Indian tradition God could be either ‘NIRGUN'(Infinite Being), or ‘SAGUN'(Finite Being with attributes). In my analysis, God is always a ‘Personal God’. God may not be attached to either man or to His Creation. But, man has no such Freedom of Choice. Man has no alternative. Like all other living organisms, man’s physical existence is characterized by ‘Dependence’ and man may experience a sense of ‘Freedom’ in his thoughts or imagination. Man’s Dependence on external source of energy is the only factor that shapes man’s relationship or connection to God. Therefore, man has opportunity to experience God as Creator of his Individual Soul. I cannot share your individualized or personal experience. Similarly, no other person can share my individualized, personal experience. Each one of us has no choice other than that of seeking our own personal experience of God.

This is not a new, or original concept. This is the concept of God shared by Ved Vyas in his epic poem of Bhagavata Purana and this description is mentioned in the story called ‘Gajendra Moksha’.

For man is created as Individual with Individuality, his connection and experience of Creator is a product of his individualized, conditioned existence.

As per Acharya Nagarjuna, chief proponent of philosophical doctrine called Sunyata or Emptiness, there is no soul, there is no ‘Nirvana’. Sunya is not the equivalent of ‘Nirvana’ unless you want to share a different philosophical doctrine which needs to be explained to me. It is not the same as ‘nothingness’ used by Sartre.

It will be easy to remove that pencil from water and prove that the pencil is straight and not bent at water-air interphase. But, we cannot pull man from his conditioned existence as ‘Illusion’ is the basis that establishes man’s existence. Man has no choice other than that of keeping his existence under influence of ‘Illusion’ and measure his lifespan or life time experiencing Sunrise and Sunset while in reality there is no Sunrise or Sunset. To understand man’s condition or state called Sunya or Nirvana, I need to know if that man is breathing, and if that man’s heart is beating.